Get Lucky

Do you ever worry that inspiration will just dry up?

I sometimes wonder if each song will be the last I write, and I think everyone has that fear to an extent.

Even so, I’ve always got lots of started and unfinished loose writings around, rejected ideas because you’ve passed that point in time, or ones that have hit a dead-end of some sort. And even with good ideas that you haven’t gotten round to finishing.

For example, last month I knew I was going to be busy towards the end of it, so I figured maybe I should get all my blog post writing out of the way as soon as possible, and get stuck into some songwriting work while the coast was relatively clear.

My thoughts immediately went to the list of songs I’ve been working on but not finished, to the list of potential ideas etc, and to the list of blog topics that I tell myself I should get on to doing at some point (I can never say I have nothing to write about, or worry about that because of these lists) but sometimes the prospect of carrying on work on some mammoth project that has defeated you thus far, seems a little disheartening and you drag your creative feet to face it.

What I hadn’t counted on, and what I still try never to rely on, is momentary inspiration – a chain of thought, an incident, a perspective, a flash of something someone said – to give you an idea for something fully formed.

It continues to happen just as a consequence of being alive and being aware of things, and by doing so things tend to fall into your lap.

“the pain and confusion and the horror of

Life

Will not stop then

But continue,

Lavishly

 

Giving your electric IBM more and

More

To chew

And ponder” –  Charles Bukowski, ‘Celebrating This’

I’m always delighted when it happens and it makes me feel lucky that I was there in the right place, at the right time, with the right frame of mind to be open to receiving this golden nugget.

In this case, I happened to have a song triggered by something that was on my mind and had to come out, so I sat and wrote it and with in a few sittings in consecutive days it came out damn near complete, and without too much toil or sweat. A beautiful feeling.

The thing is, you’ll always get lucky every so often, and it’s nice to forget and be reminded that sometimes it gets handed to you on a plate.

“I get lucky sometimes…” – Twilight Singers – ‘Get Lucky’